Guide to EU functional food legislation launched in Japanese

EAS | Jan 08, 2007

08 January 2007

A Brussels-based advisory company has created a unique tool to assist the ongoing EU-Japan dialogue on functional food and food supplement legislation – a version of their EU regulations guide translated into Japanese.

EAS, specialists in European and international regulation on food and nutritional products, have launched their first legislation and practice report ‘Marketing Food Supplements, Fortified and Functional Foods in Europe’ in Japanese, which focuses on key regulatory facts for marketing in 27 European countries.

The report is currently being circulated in Japan and covers EU changes for nutritional products over the past four years, starting with the EU Food Supplement Directive in 2002. It provides a complete and up-to-date overview of the regulatory landscape, detailing requirements for food supplements, fortified foods and health claims.

“We’ve seen a trend of Japanese companies entering the European market and this, combined with explicit requests from food industry leaders in Japan stimulated us to offer an updated edition of our report in the Japanese language,” said EAS Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Manager, Efi Leontopoulou. “There is a need for companies outside Europe to receive this kind of information, and the positive feedback we’ve had from both industry and governments confirms that the challenge was worth the effort.”

The EU and Japan are starting to take an increasingly active part in each other’s regulatory reform efforts to reduce unnecessary and obstructive regulation, and EAS hopes its report will help companies to understand the European regulatory environment and consider new marketing strategies for their products across Europe.

“Japanese companies that want to sell in Europe should, above all, understand the European climate,” said Leontopoulou. “The report is an excellent tool for the marketing plans of Japanese companies in Europe.”